comanchepilot
En-Route
Sure = my airplane is capable - 530/ 60-2/ HSI etc - but last week was flying in central valley of Califorinia for about 75 min - and after about 30 min I realized that I no visual horizon due to haze and had been subconsciously performing a light scan of my instruments . .. heading, VSI, altimeter and gyro for the last 20 min or so combined with looking outside and at the Mode S traffic.
So there I was basically in IMC even though it was clear - and was back to my scan 'light' because subconsciously I'd noticed that I did not have any horizon reference. Then all of sudden my conscious brain uncovered what I was doing -
A couple thousand of hours and lots of IMC experience helps the subconscious part of it - but I can imagine a lot time VFR pilot spending a lot of time struggling with keeping the airplane on course and level even if trimmed up ok -
GO GET THAT IFR RATING!
So there I was basically in IMC even though it was clear - and was back to my scan 'light' because subconsciously I'd noticed that I did not have any horizon reference. Then all of sudden my conscious brain uncovered what I was doing -
A couple thousand of hours and lots of IMC experience helps the subconscious part of it - but I can imagine a lot time VFR pilot spending a lot of time struggling with keeping the airplane on course and level even if trimmed up ok -
GO GET THAT IFR RATING!